David Vance SubstackRead More
Nigeria is not a safe place for Christians. In fact, it can be a living hell.
Various estimates suggest that thousands of Christians are being killed in Nigeria in recent years, with the country consistently recording the highest global totals for faith-related killings.
Open Doors’ World Watch List 2024 attributed about 3,100 Christian deaths to Nigeria, making it the most lethal country for Christians that year. Its 2025 data, cited in early 2026, indicates around 3,490 of the 4,849 Christians killed worldwide for their faith were in Nigeria, roughly 72% of the global total.
In short, Nigeria really is the killing fields for Christians.
So, who is doing all the killing?
Well, most killings of Christians are carried out by armed Islamist groups and allied militias, mainly in the north and Middle Belt. Boko Haram and Islamic State West Africa Province target churches, Christian villages and clergy with bombings, massacres and kidnappings. Armed Fulani militant groups and bandits are blamed for a very large share of rural attacks on Christian communities, involving village raids, church burnings and land seizures.
So the facts seem clear, Muslims are slaughtering Christians in the most barbaric ways imaginable. The Church of Nigeria is part of the same global Anglican Communion as the Church of England. It is fully self‑governing and has become theologically more conservative than its “mother church” but it still has than Anglican provenance.
Which brings us to King Charles.
You see, King Charles is the constitutional and ceremonial head of the Church of England, so you might have thought he would take the opportunity on the occasion of the visit of Nigeria’s president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu to raise the issue. Not a bit of it, Charles and Camilla formally welcomed them with full ceremonial honours, including a carriage procession and state banquet, to underline close Commonwealth and trade ties. The Christians being slaughtered were not up for discussion.
In fact, President Tinubu was observing the Ramadan fast during this UK state visit, so the programme and banquet were adjusted around his fasting schedule. King Charles dropped the usual Windsor Castle state lunch and instead held an afternoon audience, with Tinubu breaking his fast privately at sunset before attending an evening state banquet. The banquet itself was made Ramadan‑friendly, with non‑alcoholic toasts (Tinubu used orange juice) and mocktails, and a prayer room was provided so the president and other Muslim guests could perform evening prayers after Iftar.
So we have King Charles the ceremonial head of the Church of England meeting the Muslim President of Nigeria where thousands of Christians are massacred and he doesn’t say a word of protest,
What is the POINT of King Charles?
